Photo: Contributed

"Put a cork in it!"

That was essentially the warning West Kelowna winery Crown and Thieves recently received from one of the worlds top producers.

According to a story published by CTV Vancouver, French champagne producers Dom Perignon told Crown and Thieves to cease and desist the sale of its popular "Dom and Dommerer" line of wines.

The letter was sent because the label has the same three-pointed shield as the French champagne.

The Dom and Dommerer labelled wines are now being stored in a warehouse while winemaker Jason Parkes comes up with a way to re-brand and re-label the line.

"We'll just have to come up with something clever and maybe an homage to someone else in some fun way," Parkes told CTV.

"It's valuable, we'll fix it, we'll make it work and be creative."

Idea from footprint

Parkes explained he got the idea for the brand when he saw "cute little footprints with a "really neat shape" while walking through the vineyard in a snowy day.

But the jig was up when he received the cease and desist letter.

"I didn't think we'd get away with it for six months and it's been longer than that," he told CTV.

"They're actually a very, very classy company all kidding aside, and they've been very kind and I think they've seen some of the humour."

--with files from CTV Vancouver